Haunted
by CharlotteBlackwood
Summary: The world has crumbled around the Clondon girls, but how to they pick up moving forward in a world that's falling apart? Sequel to Family Affair. CC/OC, RL/NT, FW/OC, M


**A/N: This is a sequel to **_**Family Affair**_**. More Matty and the twins... OC heavy, and you should absolutely read **_**Family Affair**_** before attempting to read this. If you don't you'll be very confused. This chapter is wholeheartedly dedicated to my most faithful reader and reviewer, **_**Forever Siriusly Sirius**_**. I hope you enjoy it, **_**FSS**_**!**

** -C**

"Amelia Bones is dead," Merryn whispered, turning to her sister, who looked over her shoulder to glance at the newspaper.

"Why do you read that thing?" Maëlle asked, crinkling her nose in disgust. "It's all lies."

"The obituaries aren't lies," Merryn said. "They're really dead."

"Yeah," Maëlle whispered, looking over at the jacket of their father's that the girls had managed to nick from Grimmauld Place while the Order was having a meeting. They took turns sleeping with it, but Maëlle got it more often because Merryn knew it helped with her nightmares.

"Mum's going to call us for breakfast soon," Merryn said bracingly. "Why don't we go down and see if we can't make it before she gets up? It'd be a nice surprise."

Her twin nodded sadly, leading the way down to the kitchen where Merryn started tea and Maëlle started cracking eggs. The girls worked quickly as they could, knowing that if their mother caught them using magic she would have a fit. Ever since their father had died in the Ministry battle she'd been different, and she'd been about twice as strict about rules as she'd been before, as if keeping the girls following the rules to the letter would save them from going the same way as their impulsive, prankster father. Maëlle dealt with it well enough, but Merryn found the whole shift to be suffocating and she spent most of the days since they got out of Hogwarts writing letters back and forth with her boyfriend, Colin.

They'd nearly finished cooking when their mother, Matty Clondon, came into the kitchen rubbing her eyes and frowning at them.

"What's all this?" she asked.

"Just thought we'd make breakfast," Merryn said with a smile.

Their mother frowned.

"Elle, what's going on?"

"No, we really just wanted to do something nice," Maëlle assured her. "I've made you some eggs and potatoes, Mum."

"And here's some tea and toast," Merryn said kindly, pushing it out to her.

In truth, the girls had been doing everything they could to ease things for their mother, including doing extra chores and telling their mother she'd already done them if she asked. They weren't supposed to be cleaning the oven or things like that, but they did it anyway. She needed them.

"What's in the paper, Merryn?" their mother asked tiredly.

The girls exchanged nervous looks.

"Nothing much," Merryn finally said, slowly. "A lot of the usual. But... Amelia Bones... she's..."

"Dead," their mother said dully. "You can say it, Merryn. Death happens, especially during these wars. You didn't know her."

"No," Maëlle admitted softly. "But her niece was in the DA with us. She's a nice girl."

Their mother just nodded sadly for a moment before downing the rest of her tea quickly and eating a few more bites of her eggs.

"It was great, girls," she said softly. "I've got an Order meeting soon..."

"Can we come with?" Maëlle asked quickly. "I mean, to Grimmauld Place. Or is that where it is?"

"Yes, it is," she said sadly. "Sure, you can come. Behave yourselves, though."

"Yes, Mum!" they chorused.

They actually had been behaving lately, on their very best behavior, so it wasn't a lie. They rushed upstairs to their room and quickly fished around for something to wear.

They both put on shorts and blouses, but while Merryn put on some tights under hers, Maëlle put nothing else on her legs but a bit of scented lotion. Merryn raised her eyes.

"Something you want to tell me, Elle?"

Her twin blushed.

"No, nothing," she said softly. After a moment of putting on a bit more lotion and wrapping her hair up in a ponytail she blushed slightly and said, "Do you think the twins will be there?"

"Which one do you like?" Merryn teased.

"Neither!" Maëlle said quickly.

Too quickly.

The blush on her cheeks wasn't even needed to give her away, as Merryn happened to know that her sister had switched from being interested in Fred and George and back again for quite a while. Merryn thought it was George now, but it was difficult to say with Maëlle. She could be so secretive sometimes.

"Sure," Merryn said, trying not to sound too disbelieving. "C'mon, we haven't got time for make-up, we've got to go."

"But Merryn-"

"It's nothing any of them haven't seen before," Merryn pointed out. "If you've not got a crush than it shouldn't be a problem."

Maëlle shot her a dirty look but did not admit to her crush. Instead she went without make-up, but she certainly didn't look happy about it.

Fred and George were a bit old for them, in Merryn's mind, and she certainly had no interest in the twins, but she knew what boys their age were like, by and large, and she couldn't begrudge her sister an interest in rich, famous, attractive, and mischievous boys a bit older than them. In a lot of ways they were like the girls' father.

"All right, here we go," Matty said, and they took the Floo Network to the kitchen fireplace in Grimmauld Place.

"Matty!" Remus said happily. "Girls. I'm so glad you could all be here!"

"Hi," said Tonks from across the room, and Merryn thought that her voice seemed strained and choked. Before their very eyes Tonks's hair was slowly changing from vibrant pink to a long, mousy brown that made Merryn feel sort of depressed.

Was she in mourning for Amelia Bones? They might have known each other from work or something. Still, it seemed like odd timing for a change, and a bit abrupt, even if the changes were happening slowly before their eyes.

"We're going to go upstairs," Merryn explained. "We won't be underfoot or anything."

It was strange, how different it was from the year before when they had been conspiring with Fred and George and Ginny and Ron and Hermione to hear as much of the meetings as possible and being as underfoot as they could be by default. But things had gotten more serious for everyone when Sirius Black had died and Voldemort revealed himself the way he had. The war had started for real, and everyone had to become more intense about what they were doing.

The girls rushed upstairs to let the adults sort things out, but they ran into some familiar faces when they reached the top.

"Oi, it's the twins!" Fred said with a grin. "How are you, ladies?"

It was a silly question, Merryn though. Of course they weren't well. It wasn't so long ago that their father had died. So absurd.

"Fine, thanks," Maëlle said politely, blushing slightly in a way that could be taken for being simply flushed with excitement. "Here for the meeting?"

"Yeah," George said with a grin. "We've got our own business now, so they've actually accepted us, no matter what our mum has to say about it."

"Congratulations," Merryn said, grinning. "Wish we could join. Still a few years to go, I guess."

"You'd better hope the war doesn't take that long," Fred said, suddenly dark. "The things we already know... the stuff that's already in progress... If it goes on that long, I don't think we've got a prayer of winning."

The thought made Merryn feel a bit sick, especially when she thought about how her mother was already so changed. What would the war do to her mother if they were to lose? Would any of them still be alive to find out?

"Best be getting to the meeting, then," Merryn finally made herself say, and she dragged her sister, who was still looking back at the twins as they went down the stairs, upstairs with her, straight up to their father's bedroom from his childhood, which Maëlle unlocked with a simple spell.

Maëlle wrinkled her nose at the walls.

"He certainly was a teenage boy once, wasn't he?" she muttered as they looked around at all of the posters of scantily clad girls, Muggle and magical.

"Acts of rebellion," Merryn said knowingly. "He would have stuck them permanently, or his mother would have taken them down when he left."

Merryn opened a drawer and ran her fingers along the socks, wondering which pair had been his favorite, which pair didn't fit quite right.

There was so much she'd wanted to ask her father before he died, but it had seemed like they had so long together, long enough to take things a little bit at a time. Somehow, though, the time ran out so much quicker than she could have imagined. Some things she could ask her mother, some she could ask Remus, but there were so many things she would never be able to ask.

"Do you think Dad cut out all of these?" Maëlle asked, pointing to little paper figurines on a shelf, dozens each of the various animals involved in the Marauders.

"Wow," Merryn muttered, picking up one of the delicate dogs. "Do you think we could get these to travel well?"

"Maybe," Maëlle said thoughtfully. "You want the puppies?"

"Dogs."

"Whatever."

Maëlle scrunched her lips and twisted her mouth side to side a few times, thinking. Finally, she pulled out her wand and tapped one of the dogs. He crumbled.

"Whoops," she said sheepishly when Merryn raised her eyebrows. "Here." She tapped the next one, and it crystalized. "That's better." She repeated the action on the remaining dogs and Merryn picked them up, testing their solidness as she put them in a rucksack she emptied out by the front door.

"Mum's going to recognize that," Maëlle said, nodding at the rucksack.

"So?" Merryn sighed. "She'll let us take it, Ellie. You'll see."

They spent the rest of the time playing with their father's antiquated wizard chess set. Merryn knew her sister was very good at chess, but Merryn was very good at distracting her sister, and thus they were actually fairly evenly matched.

After their fourth game the girls laid down on their father's bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Do you think he stared at it from this side of the bed, or the other one?" Maëlle asked.

"This side, genius," Merryn said, rolling her eyes. "This is where the pillow is."

"Yeah, but Mum puts her feet on the pillow when she stares at the ceiling. Uncle Remus, too."

"Well, we can ask Remus about that. He'd know."

"Yeah, you're right."

Merryn turned a little to look at the open wardrobe, which had a few coats and robes hanging.

"Are those dress robes?" she asked. Maëlle nodded, propping herself up to look at them better. "They're really tacky."

"It was the seventies, Merryn," Maëlle laughed. "Did you see Mum's clothes from then? Everything was tacky. Remember those trousers we found in Uncle Remus's closet?"

Merryn giggled in a way that would have made her father proud.

"Remember the look on his face when we showed him those trousers? It was like he'd swallowed a steak bone or something. He was horrified."

The girls giggled, remembering the good old days, before they felt empty.

There was a knock at the door and the girls exchanged looks, wondering who would know to look for them there.

"I know you girls are in there," Fred teased from the doorway as he swung the door open, grinning. "George and I are getting sent to get some work done but I thought I'd say hey before I left."

"Oh, Freddie!" Maëlle said excitedly, and Merryn snorted. "Do you think you could send this rucksack to our room at home, so we don't have to try to sneak it?"

"My pleasure, Ellie," he told her with a wink, and he waved his wand, causing the rucksack to disappear. "Meeting's almost over, so you might want to head downstairs."

He Disapparated and the twins ran downstairs, locking the door behind them, wanting to be in the sitting room by the time their mother came up looking for them to say that lunch was ready.

"Girls?" they heard Remus say as they settled into their chairs. "We're going to have lunch in a minute."

"Thanks, Uncle Remus," Merryn said, getting up and gracefully kissing Remus's cheek. "How was the meeting?"

"Fine, dear," he said, tears in his eyes like every time she kissed his cheek anymore. His hands mussed up her blonde hair with a false playfulness as Maëlle approached to kiss the other cheek. He hugged them both to him and kissed each twin on the forehead. "Now, let's get down to the kitchen, shall we?"

They nodded and Maëlle went out to the hall, Merryn hesitated when she saw Remus wiping his eyes on his sleeve hastily.

"Uncle Remus?" she asked, watching him in the dark study as he gave her a fake smile.

"Yes, dear?"

"What's wrong with Tonks? Is it Amelia Bones, or...?"

Something flashed across Remus's face that she'd not seen before, something she couldn't come up with the right name for, and he whispered, "Don't concern yourself with that, please, Merryn. You're going to have enough to think about without thinking of the problems of adults."

"Uncle Remus, I am an adult," Merryn said boldly. "I might be fifteen, and I know it's not exactly what you'd can an adult, but I'm a member of the DA, I've fought Death Eaters, and I've lost my father. I'm not a child anymore, and I'd really prefer you didn't keep treating me like one."

He looked at her for a moment and his forehead creased. She thought he was going to cry again, but he sat down on the desk, looking at her more on her eye level, smiling weakly.

"No, you're right, dear," he sighed. "You're not a child anymore. But I must still say that I won't tell you about Tonks. It's a bit of a personal dispute we're having, she and I, and I don't want you getting involved in it, understand?"

"You love her, don't you?" Merryn said, pressing forward, thinking back to when she arrived. "You used to look at Mum like that, and Mum used to look at Dad like she looked at you."

He swallowed and confirmed her suspicions. He ran his fingers anxiously through his hair, but Merryn took a step forward, putting her hand on his shoulder carefully.

"What's wrong, Uncle Remus?"

"It's nothing," he sighed. "Nothing."

"Are you being silly because of your condition?"

Remus let out a nervous, shaky laugh and said, "Let's get down to lunch, Merryn, before your mother comes looking for us."

Knowing defeat when she saw it, Merryn agreed, leading the way down to the kitchen, but making a mental note to bring it up with her mother later.

Tonks excused herself when Merryn and Remus walked in, sparing a brief, tight smile for Merryn as she left, and Maëlle was frowning thoughtfully after their cousin.

"Soup, Merryn!" their mother called with her falsely cheerful voice.

"Sounds lovely," Merryn said, taking a bowl of soup from Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you."

"Oh, it's nothing, dear," Mrs. Weasley said happily, watching Merryn take a seat across from her twin. "You know, the boys talk about you two so much. You've been keeping up correspondence, I gather?"

"I have," Maëlle admitted, staring down at her soup as if willing her blush away.

"I really haven't, I'm afraid," Merryn laughed. "If I had any ink and parchment to spare after writing to Colin, Tien, and Ginny, though, I certainly would."

"How's Tien doing, then?" Remus asked with the first genuine smile Merryn had seen on his face since her father's death.

"Oh, she's doing well," Merryn said, stirring her soup to cool it. "Her family went to Brighton for holiday, visiting family. She's ready to go back to Hogwarts, I think."

"Why, what's wrong with Brighton?" Mr. Weasley asked with a smile.

"The weather," the twins chorused, grinning at each other.

"Tien said it rained every day she was there," Maëlle explained. "She calls it a sign, but I just call it record setting rains. She's convinced that the weather in Scotland is better."

"Ironically," Merryn continued, "it probably is right now, but I think that any other time of the year she would have picked Brighton."

The Order and the Black twins ate the delicious soup provided by Molly Weasley, laughing and talking, managing to forget for just a brief hour about the war waging just outside their door. When it was time for Matty to take the girls home the three of them said happy, eager goodbyes and left as if leaving a rowdy Christmas party, not a top-secret meeting in wartime.

"Well, how was your time, girls?" their mother asked, still a bit falsely happy from the habit of being so around the Order.

"We had fun," Maëlle said quickly, but not too quickly. They'd gotten very good at that. "The house is interesting."

"Still a bit dangerous, though," their mother said sternly, clearly a bit panicked at the thought of them exploring. "You stayed in the study-?"

"Yes, Mum," Merryn assured her. "We were reading."

"Yes, Grandfather had a fascinating array of history books," Maëlle said happily in a wonderful save.

Their mother smiled tightly, sitting down at the kitchen table and looking over at the wall where she had a picture of the three of them with their father in that very same study.

"I'm sure Orion would be proud to hear you say so," she whispered, trying not to cry. "He was very proud of those books."

The twins excused themselves from their mother to make sure the rucksack made it to their room.

When the door closed behind them Maëlle whispered, "She's getting worse."

Merryn looked back at the door and muttered, "I know, Elle. I know."


End file.
